


pendulum swinging slow, a degenerate moving

by macabrekawaii



Series: This could be love (love for fire) [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Gen, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Okay maybe he's not a bad parent but he definitely mishandled this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24906097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/macabrekawaii/pseuds/macabrekawaii
Summary: On a night out as Robin alongside Batman in pursuit of the Joker, Jason miscalculates and needs to be rescued. Jason asserts his independence, and is rewarded with perhaps a bit too much of it.(Sort of a "missing scene" flashback from the ficbut I was born impatient and I was born unkind)
Series: This could be love (love for fire) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802137
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	pendulum swinging slow, a degenerate moving

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of a "missing scene" flashback from my fic [but I was born impatient and I was born unkind](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24872029)
> 
> Takes place sometime during Jason's time as Robin, I'd say a while before his death. Time and canon are squoobly though, and I think he's moderately young here like thirteen or so-- a little into his tenure as Robin, but not quite the death knell (oof). So let's play in this space, and imagine that Jason got more than one year (ugh new 52, what are you fuckin with?) as Robin, closer to the original timeline of three or four or I DON'T KNOW CANON IS MADE UP AND THE RULES DON'T MATTER . Dick is just barely out on his own as Nightwing. 
> 
> title is from the song "Chum" by Earl Sweatshirt, which is an amazing piece about relationships from the perspective of a jilted, rebellious son.

Jason’s hands scrabble for purchase on the brick wall as his grapnel gun clatters to the ground. It was a thirty, maybe forty-foot drop down to the alley below. The freezing wind whipped his cape around, all but slamming him in the face as gusts howled between the city buildings. It was a cold winter night, enough so the chill of it sank into his bones, even through the suit. Jason strains upwards, his hand barely grasping an outcrop from a window. He can feel the muscles in his shoulder tearing as he hoists himself up towards the roof, can feel his body ready to give out, already tired from the fight. He does not dare look down. Suddenly, big arms encircle his waist, lifting him up, pulling him with ease the last ten feet, over the top of the roof. 

“You need to be more careful Robin.” Bruce’s voice is low and soft, not The Bat, just the man. 

  
“What are you doing!? Joker’s getting away!!” Jason is lying on the ground, still too winded to get back up, clutching at his shoulder. “Why come back for me!? You almost had him!”

  
“Some things matter more than bringing him in.” Bruce extends a hand, helping Jason to his feet. The boy is panting hard, obviously tired and in pain. “Your life, for one.”

  
“But you almost had him!”

  
“And YOU almost fell after dropping your line. What were you thinking trying to clear that distance?”

  
“Yeah, well….” Jason rubs at his shoulder and looks at the ground. “I thought it could reach the telephone wires overhead. It’s too dark, and I’m freezing. I just thought—”

  
“What you THOUGHT is that you’re invincible.” 

  
“Why do you treat me like a baby?” Jason looks up Bruce and his crystal eyes are hard as ice.

  
“Because you’re reckless, you act on impulse you-- .” Bruce takes a step closer to the boy, letting his shoulders drop, softening his stance. “You ARE a child.” 

  
“I’m not a little kid! I’m older than Dick when you had him up here.”

Bruce pinches the bridge of his nose, a migraine threatening to bloom at the back of his brain. This was not how the night was supposed to go, but if he was being honest with himself, few things involving Jason kept to any semblance of a plan.

  
“Just listen to me for one-minute Robin.” 

“Why? So you can yell at me more? Tell me how much better Dick was when you pulled this shit with him?”

  
“That’s not—that’s not what I’m saying at all and you know it.”

  
“Oh sorry I’m not your golden boy, sorry I FUCK UP sometimes.”

Bruce sighs, his breath soft and powdery in the chill air. He tries to steady himself, to let the hot anger clutching in his belly dissipate. He knows the boy in front of him wants him to fight back, to make this into a battle. But this isn’t a war. Bruce knows war, knows what it means to fight against a real adversary. He would make this boy understand he was not his enemy.  
“Robin—Jason—please. I only want what’s best for you.”

  
“Well fuck off! You’re not my real dad!” Jason shouts, his words spit out like venom from a cornered snake. 

“No.” Bruce says, his voice even but toneless, almost a whisper. “No, I’m not.” Before Jason can respond, Bruce is off the roof, grappling to a nearby water tower, gliding out into the darkness of Gotham.

He knows Jason can find his own way home. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this little bonus tidbit! I was going to write a whole series of Every Time A Robin Called Bruce Dad In Some Way but it kind of fell apart as I fell into a hyperfixation pit of _Jason_ so.... yeah! I wrote this before any part of this series, and wanted to get it up on here as I think it establishes an important moment in Jason's time with Bruce. 
> 
> Bruce, my dude, I know you threw this kid in some green bootyshorts and gave him some batarangs but you're really gonna leave him alone and emotionally fucked up on a roof at 3am in February? smdh


End file.
